Dennis Kutchera
Forum Replies Created
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Open up the console app and see if there is an error message that repeats continually. I had some crap app from the Apple App store throwing errors because it could not see a disk it wanted, causing everything to slow down to the point where I could not play Prores LT in real time. Once I fixed the problem, things went back to normal. It affected every app and the OS for speed.
Dennis
Dennis Kutchera
EggStudios.ca -
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Michael,
I think you are on the money regarding the quicktime wrapper. I’ve experienced the same issue of slowness with AMA linked XDcam quicktimes.
Dennis
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Don’t count on it being temporary or short term.In Matrox’s own support forums, they stated that they have no plans to support multiple applications with one driver. I could not find that comment today (perhaps it was removed?), but now they state this:
We are looking into supporting a multiple workflow in the future, and will post back our updates as soon as we can.
I will tell you from years of experience dealing with Matrox, all the way back to 1993 with the Matrox Studio and since 2007 with the Matrox MXO, then since 2010 with the Matrox MXO2 mini, that future to Matrox means 6 months to one year to never. I would not have bought the mini except that it was the only 3rd party hardware Avid supported with MC 5. And it worked great up to MC 5.5 with one driver and other apps in Snow Leopard. Now, their Avid driver only works with Lion and the only driver that works with Lion is the one for Avid. So I have to make dual boot with two OS and two drivers to continue to work as I have been or forget MC 6 or switch to another hardware base. I am thinking the hardware change is the way I am going to go. Matrox makes a really good product; really good, but their driver support is the absolute worst I have personally encountered.
Dennis
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Only BMD i/o devices are going to work with Resolve. I suggest you download the configuration guide from the BMD website to make sure you build a system that works.
Regarding the Matrox MXO2 Mini. I have one. It does not work with Resolve, In fact, It will not work with more than one chosen application at a time because suddenly, Matrox has started writing separate drivers for Avid, Adobe, etc for OS X Lion. It has not always been this way. In Snow Leopard, I could run FCP, Adobe and Avid from the same driver. Now, for me to move to Media Composer 6, I have to either make my Mac dual boot or find another hardware i/o solution now that Avid supports all kinds of third party hardware.
If you are really smitten with Matrox MXO2 mini, I will gladly sell you mine. I need to have I/o for multiple apps at the same time. The calibration utility is quite comprehensive, although I don’t use it. I have a monitor I can properly calibrate without it.
Dennis
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There is a great BCC filter in the included BCC7 if you buy the boxed version of MC that is fabulous for working with original sized photos and animating them. Much more elegant than Avid Pan and Zoom. Buy the box set because you get Boris Continuum and Red plus other good stuff included. Well worth the small premium and far less than buying them separately later.
Dennis Kutchera
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That’s a good question because if you need to replace a workstation once new Mac Pros are released with Lion, you’re toast because Apple has never allowed an older OS to load on a new machine, so no Snow Leopard will be possible. Used Mac Pros will be the only alternative if you want to stay with Final Cut Pro 7.
Apple has not only set themselves up for the pro market to abandon Final Cut Pro, but also the Mac platform. We set up the post and production for a TV station around Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, XServe and Xsan in 2009. It was a nice package from what everyone felt was a reliable source. That facility is no longer scalable. How can they now even simply add one more workstation with Final Cut Studio 3 installed? Can’t, because Apple won’t sell you the software. And how many other facilities around the world are built like this? Final Cut must have easily 50% of the post market world wide, The broadcast equipment supplier we used built a good piece of their business around this kind of installation. After all that has gone down with Apple, I can see a wholesale shift to Windows PC based solutions because you don’t have to base you business on the hardware and software from one company, there always alternatives who can supply what you need when you use Windows. Also, Avid and Adobe run on both Mac and PC, so moving to either on the Mac today is good insurance against Apple doing something else in the future that could impact your ability to stay in business. If they dumped the MacPro down the road, you are ready to jump to Windows.
The big issue at stake for the post industry is not what Apple hasn’t done right with Final Cut Pro X, but what they’ve done wrong by pulling the rug out from under the legs of Final Cut Studio 3 and Final Cut Server users. It’s like one day finding waking up to find that you can no longer buy tires for a car. You can still use it as it is for as long as the tires you now own last, and then you’re done.
Dennis Kutchera
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John Berpskin wrote: Avid hasn’t innovated JACK in over 5 years. Hell, MC5 had a huge uproar over being rushed to market/bugs. Be warned if you plan on signing on with Avid – same old same old you ran from before.
Huh? No innovation in 5 years? Let’s look just a bit of the “jack” that Media Composer hasn’t innovated:
1. AMA – Avid Media Access: If quicktime plays it, so does Avid. No need to import, it will link to the original file in it’s original location.
-I work almost 100% AMA with Final Cut Pro media assets from a lot of different sources. Far easier than working with the same assets in Final Cut Pro because when I open a project 3 months later, MC doesn’t lose its brains about where the media is located.2. Mixed frame rate sequences that actually work. I typically work with a 720P 59.94 sequence and uses sources that are mostly PAL DV, 1080i50 and NTSC mixed. And the results are smooth motion and no interlacing artifacts, The upconversion of SD to HD looks great. And this is all in real time. If I need to provide the production in a different frame rate, say 720P 50, I create a new project, open the previous sequence and paste it into the new one and BAM! Now it plays smoothly in real time at that frame rate, pending any plugins that may need re-rendering due to the frame rate change.
-Final Cut Pro 7 claims I can use any frame size and frame rate in a sequence and I guess that’s true if you can put up with the judder and shudder of NTSC on a PAL sequence, etc.3. Third party hardware support. Right now it is only Matrox MXO2 Mini and AJA i/o Express. I am running Avid MC, Adobe Premiere and AE, and Final Cut Pro 3 on this with no issues or conflicts. The best performance is in this order – Avid, Adobe, Apple.
-I suspect there is now a rush on at Avid to support other hardware to capture the mindshare of some of the Final Cut Pro shops that feel abandoned by Apple. This would be a smart move for Avid.4. Avid added features to the timeline that can be turned on and off to make it more comfortable to Final Cut Pro users.
5. Script Sync – never look in a bin again, just follow your script to locate shots. Brilliant jack, wouldn’t you say? Maybe you want to tell me it is an option. That’s true, but it IS an option no one else can offer.
These are just the new features that brought me back to Avid when they released MC5. There are more innovations, but I am not going to list them all. My point has been made.
When was the last time you actually did business with Avid? Same old is long gone.
I trust this corrects any misconceptions about Avid development of the last 5 years.
Dennis
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Although Final Cut Server was built around a collaborative workflow and a degree of task automation, a lot of people have been using it to catalog and store their media assets. This is something CatDV has proven to be far superior at doing. So this could be a good day for CatDV. Import scripts would definitely clinch it.
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If you review that list of qualified Macs, they are pretty much the stock configurations without options other than increased RAM. Avid will only test so many configs and they know THOSE will work. Will others work? In most cases, yes—but they were not tested, so there may be issues in some circumstances. Will a Dual 2.66 Quad core Nehalem work with a 1 tb drive rather than a 640 gb drive as Avid lists? Of course, that is just a base configuration as tested by Avid.
I am using a single processor 2.66 Nehalem with 3 gb of RAM and a Radeon 4870. Avid calls for a Nvidia GT120. The only issues I have are with Boris Red (also tested FX and Graffiti). It indicates that the graphics card is not qualified and I will have to reset it in the preferences. But, if I go to the preferences, it will crash. So for now I leave it alone. I now have an Nvidia GT120 I am going to install soon. I found an open box one at B&H. The reason I have had this odd config is that I was using it with Final Cut Pro. But I have had my fill of that and decided to come back to Avid now that AMA will let me use archived Final Cut Pro files directly.
So I am using an untested Mac Pro with 5.03 and a Matrox Mini with virtually no issues. I am editing almost exclusively with AMA files in a mix of PAL, NTSC and a few frame rate and raster variations of HD. I am not doing any capturing from tape. That may be where my system would not perform. So far it is all good and since I do not have a client over my shoulder, I can work around any shortcomings that may arise. I’d say they are far fewer than I would experience with Final Cut Pro, so I am happy with it.
As the saying goes, your mileage may vary. But I have always gone the road less traveled. I used to edit Avid on PC, and I had some setups that were definitely not as per qualified configs and they worked at least 90% Avid aims for 100. If you are as confessed, not real tech savvy with computers, I would pick the cheapest qualified configuration. I don’t think you will see a tremendous difference in performance from one tier to the next unless you compare the lowest end machine to the top shelf Mac Pro. Look in the Apple Store refurb section. I have seen some sweet deals on the dual 2.26 for example and that is qualified. Then if you have any tech issues, Avid support or someone who knows Avid can help you because you are working with a known to work machine.
All the best,
Dennis